


Cryoman

by Calacious



Category: Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Brainwashing, Community: hc_bingo, Death but not death fic, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, M/M, Science, Serial Killers, Sexual Assault, Spoilers for early seasons of Criminal Minds, Torture, Very brief visit from Criminal Minds crew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 14:39:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3573401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny vanishes and it is feared that he's being held in the clutches of a pair of savage serial killers. When the Five-0 team eventually finds their friend and colleague, they fear that they're too late to save him. All except for Dr. Max. Bergman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: On Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't realize that I hadn't posted this story here until someone reviewed it the other day.
> 
> Apparently I thought that there would be a sequel to this. I don't think anyone was interested in one, so it stands alone. 
> 
> It's imperfect -- so many missing commas (for one thing) -- though it is researched. Please pardon the errors. 
> 
> Let me know if you like. 
> 
> I don't own the characters of this work of fiction, though the serial killers are original characters, they are most certainly not overly original. They are kind of 'type cast' so to speak. Alas. They serve a purpose. I have not, nor do I envision, making a profit from this particular story (did I mention the missing commas?).

"When an organism is suspended its biological processes cannot do anything wrong...Under conditions of extreme cold, sometimes that is the correct thing to be doing; when you can't do it right, don't do it at all." – Roth, _"Mystery Explained: How Frozen Humans Are Brought Back."_

* * *

Off-hand, Danny can't recall ever having felt this tired, or beaten, or cold, in his life. Actually, he no longer feels cold. He's warm and sleep beckons, but it is for Grace, and Steve, and Chin, and Kono, even if they aren't real, that he doesn't close his eyes and visit the Land of Nod.

It is a chore to even think, and if he could pull it off without dying, he'd stop drawing air into his lungs because it is just too much work, especially given the fact that he'll just have to expel it all in a matter of seconds, and then repeat the act.

Steven, however, would hold onto the air as though the next breath he took could very possibly be his last, which is a distinct possibility for Danny. Steven could probably survive this if their roles were reversed, and that thought is what kills Danny.

'Too much work,' Danny thinks, and his eyes drift closed. He lets out his last breath of air. It isn't hard not to take another breath.

A short time later, his heart stops beating. Eventually everything else stops too, and then he's really and truly dead. No spark of an afterlife. He doesn't even float above his body. There's no light at the end of a tunnel, no darkness, no fire and brimstone, no nothing.

* * *


	2. Frozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max Bergman knows what he's doing. It's too soon to give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Research is fun. Research is my friend.
> 
> Let me know if you like.

By the time Steve, Chin, Kono and Dr. Max Bergman arrive at his burial site – a walk-in freezer located on the island of Lanai– Danny's been dead for over twenty-four hours. His skin's a pasty, blue-gray hue and his eyes aren't closed, like he'd thought they were. They're open and unseeing in death.

"Don't touch him," Max says when Steve moves to cover up Danny's naked body; because he knows that Danny wouldn't like to be left like that. Not even in death.

Kono's eyes well up with tears. "I can't believe we're too late."

Chin rests a comforting hand on her shoulder and turns her away from Danny's nakedness, pulling her in for a hug. She buries her head in his chest and lets some of the tears fall, but quickly brushes them away and hardens her heart for now, because Danny doesn't need her sorrow and pity, he needs her anger and her sense of justice.

This is no way for anyone to go, and they aren't any closer to catching the killers than they were with their last victim who died from exposure. His death was nothing like Danny's, though, which makes it harder for them to work up an accurate profile for their killers. The only thing they know is that the killers are a couple, like Paul and Karla Bernardo, or Charles Chi-tat Ng and Leonard Lake.

Steve clenches his fist and turns away from Doctor Bergman, letting the man get what evidence ha can from Danny's corpse. He really wants to hit someone, but settles for slamming his fist into the metal wall of Danny's tomb.

He can hear Danny's voice in his head, scolding him for being an idiot. Steve can almost feel Danny's hand on his arm pulling him away so that he can't do any more damage to his bloodied and swollen knuckles as he winds up to strike the wall again.

_Neanderthal,_ Danny chastises, _are you planning on breaking your hand? You know that the Governor will pull you off this case unless you keep your shit together. And, babe, I really need you to hold it together, to bring me some justice, because, seriously? I'm lying naked in a fricken' freezer. And don't even get me started on what happened to me before you guys found me._

He can picture Danny shudder, and Steve doesn't even want to think about it. He knows what Danny went through. He's read the files of the other victims. It makes him sick to think of what Danny had to endure, and that he was too late to stop it from happening.

Danny was with the sadistic bastards for a week. An entire week. Just like the last victim, a man who'd relocated to Hawaii from the mainland a couple of years ago. They'd both been taken from public places – Danny just outside of a grocery store, Jimmy outside of a bar.

The similarities between the two victims, other than in their cause of death, are eerie. Danny had been tied up and locked in a freezer until he succumbed to hypothermia, and the other man, Jimmy, had been tied up and locked in a metal box that was left out in the sun until his body gave way to hyperthermia.

Both men were divorcees; both had moved to the island of Oahu in the past couple of years; both had a daughter who lived with her mother; and both had blonde hair and blue eyes. Another striking similarity was their stature – both stood at no taller than five foot five.

Their tombs were just big enough to accommodate them. Both had been taken from the island of O‛ahu, and it was presumed by boat, as there had been no record of either of them (under an alias or otherwise) at either airport, and brought to one of the outer islands. Jimmy to Hawaii (the Big Island) and Danny to Lana‛i.

Further investigation into Jimmy's disappearance and death – two months before Danny had been taken and Five-0's nightmare had begun– led to the discovery that there had been other deaths, all occurring within two months of each other, and all caused by one extreme or another. And that had brought in a B.A.U. team from Washington D.C.

A joint investigation led to the discovery that their 'unsubs' had started their killing spree with a rather simply, using a hypodermic needle filled with air, plunged directly into the heart. It had been a relatively quick death in comparison to the others.

The method employed by the killers had become more complex over the year: hyperkalemia (potassium had been pumped into the victim intravenously, until the man had overdosed and died), hypoglycemia (the victim, a diabetic, had been pumped with too much insulin), hypoxia (a plastic bag had been secured over the man's mouth and nose), hyperglycemia (the victim had been given overly high doses of Prednisone), and hyperacidity (the coroner had found an excess of stomach acid, and determined that it had been somehow added to the victim's stomach).

The newspapers called them the 'Hyperactive Killers.' It was a moniker that Danny had deemed ridiculous, and a waste of taxpayers' money. An assessment which Steve had chuckled at, but one with which he wholeheartedly agreed.

The killers' methods were mindboggling, and made about as much sense as the couple whose killing spree hadn't started until they were well into their seventies, Ray and Faye Copeland. They had even made a quilt from the clothing of their victims to keep warm with during the cold winter months.

By current count, the killers had started their spree almost a year and a half ago, with Danny being their latest victim. They seemed to alternate from abducting, torturing and killing dark-haired men, to blondes every couple of murders. All of their victims had relocated to O‛ahu from somewhere outside of the islands, marking them as haoles by the locals.

"I think, yes," Max says to himself, and Steve turns to glare at the doctor whose hands are running over Danny's chest.

Danny whose own hands are bound at the wrists – arms stretched out on either side of his body, strung taut, tied to the metal poles holding the empty shelves together – with a rope wound so tightly that it'll be impossible to remove rope without taking some of his skin with it. It makes Steve sick to his stomach. He can feel the bile rising to his throat. It burns the back of his nose, but he needs to keep it together. For Danny.

"What've you got doc?" Chin asks, because Steve just can't, not right now. Not when he wants to push the doctor's hands off of Danny, and protect his partner's modesty.

"I think I can do it," Max says cryptically, and he pushes his glasses up with a gloved index finger, not really answering Chin.

Kono takes a step forward; she's looking everywhere but at Danny. She can imagine the detective reprimanding her for gawking. Can picture him turning red with embarrassment, or maybe he'd encourage her to look, he could be that way too – coy and flirtatious.

She can picture Danny winking at her, and smiling, slow and seductively.

_Like what you see, rookie? Take a picture, it'll last longer._ Kono envisions Danny giving the photographer a nasty gesture as the man snaps picture after picture of the dead detective.

And then he's posing, and it's Kono's turn to blush. Thinking about the possibilities of how Danny would react makes Kono uncomfortable, so she focuses on Max, and ignores the photographer who hasn't stopped taking photos of Danny since they arrived.

Kono takes a deep breath and kneels beside Max. "Do what?"

Max turns his head to look at her, his hand lingering on Danny's chest, as though he needs to stay in contact with the dead man at all times. Like, if he isn't touching Danny, what he's about to posit won't work.

But, he knows the science behind what he's about to suggest. He's spent hours poring over the documented research, and he thinks that he can save Danny. That he can bring the dead man back to life. He's grateful that the killers chose Danny to suffer from hypothermia, rather than something obscure and irreversible like being buried alive – the embodiment of hypogea.

"I think that, if I can get his core temperature back up, and if he has a steady source of oxygen, I can reanimate him." He can't keep the excitement out of his voice, knows that it will sound jarring in this somber place, and that it'll seem like he's cold and uncaring, but he can't help it.

Chin kneels beside them. His frown – the puckered lines between his eyebrows – communicates volumes to Max, even more than McGarrett's string of expletives accompanied by a second fist to the icy, metal container does.

"What do you mean?" Chin's fingers hover over Danny's left wrist, as though he's itching to free the man from the rope that binds him to the freezer.

Max smiles, and he's not as oblivious as everyone makes him out to be, he knows that McGarrett is mad at him, that he may even want to substitute his face for the wall. But right now, all that he can think about is how perfectly preserved Danny's body is in its current, frozen state of being. It's like the man is hibernating. All bodily functions have been suspended.

'But,' Max reasons, and he can picture Danny pacing impatiently in front of him, waiting for him to finish whatever it is that Max has to say, because he's a busy man, and has places that he needs to be, other than here, waiting for Max to give him a straight answer for once.

He wants to tell imaginary Danny to put on some clothes, because he can't seem to picture Danny in his usual state of habiliment, or his natural color. So, what he's faced with in his imagination is a stiff-moving, blue-skinned, naked Danny Williams, building up to a rant.

'All bodily functions have only been suspended temporarily,' he finishes his thought, before blinking at Chin, and returning the detective's frown.

"I can reanimate Danny," Max repeats, and he tries to control the enthusiasm in his voice, but judging by the way everyone is looking at him, he knows that he failed. He looks from Chin to Kono to Steve, and then back to Danny.

"I've studied all of the cases in which people have been reanimated after suffering from overexposure to cold. One of the most famous cases was of a little girl, Erica Norby. She had a core temperature of 61 degrees when she was found, and she recovered completely after she'd been warmed and resuscitated. Or, there was a Japanese man who was reanimated after falling asleep in the snow. He wasn't discovered for twenty-three days, and his temperature had plummeted to 71 degrees. Danny's core temperature is currently at 68."

"But, do you think that with everything else he's suffered…" Chin trails off, and then he does touch Danny's wrist, as though anchoring himself.

Max is even more certain than he was when the idea first came to him. Almost as soon as he'd seen what the killers had done to Danny, he'd known. If he believed in presentiment, he'd have thanked whatever deity had sparked his newly found interest in the study of cryogenics and the more recent studies concerning the possibility of human hibernation.

But, he is a man of science, not a man of superstition, so he lays the accolades at the feet of those who'd paved the way for him and Danny – the founding fathers of cryogenics – Kelvin, Faraday, Cailletet, Pictet, and others.

He nods his head in mute answer to Chin's unasked question, because he isn't sure that he can contain his eagerness over the science involved.

Danny, if his case holds true with that of the other past victims of the murderous duo, will be far from out of the woods once he's been reanimated. But, surely alive is better than dead, and once Danny is back amongst the living, where Max is certain that the young, vivacious detective belongs, his body can heal from the rest of the torture he'd been subjected to.

"Yes, I'm certain that, once he's been reanimated, Danny's body will be able to make a full recovery from the injuries that he's sustained, provided that his abductors did not deviate from their established pattern." Max sticks to a detached, clinical answer, because he isn't comfortable doing anything else.

"I wonder," Kono says, and she shifts her gaze to Danny's face, careful not to look anywhere else, "if that's what Danny would want."

She brushes the hair back from Danny's forehead, ignoring the medical photographer's scowl at her action as he takes yet another photo, this time of Danny's right foot – the sole of which has been burned through, in sporadic spots, with sulfuric acid. His left foot will have suffered a similar fate; the profilers from D.C. had surmised that the unsubs did this early on, to keep their victims from escaping.

The road to recovery won't be an easy one, provided that Max's theory is correct, and that he _can_ bring Danny back from the dead. It reminds Kono of some of those incredible, unbelievable true stories that she's seen on TV, where people tell stories of how they died and were brought back to life, but not before seeing a pure, white light or something similar to that. Kono wonders if Danny is watching them from outside of his body, another experience many who'd died and come back to life seemed to have in common. She feels a prickling at her back and chances a look, only to find her boss standing behind her, glowering.


	3. Putting Theory into Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team thinks about what Danny would say if he could speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this isn't too cheesy, or anything like that.

Steve's face is a mask, but his voice thick with ill-concealed anger, and what Kono recognizes as doubt. "Of course that's what Danny would want. He's got Grace and Rachel and…he'd want to live. For them."

"For us too, brah," Chin says, glancing up at Steve, giving his friend, and boss, a tight smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Danny'd want to come back for us, and to make the world a safer place for Grace and her baby brother."

There's no doubt in Chin's mind that he and Steve are right, that, given the choice, Danny would choose to live, not for himself, but for those he'd be leaving behind if he didn't. That, if it was one of them who were lying dead at Danny's feet, the detective would jump at the chance, no matter how remote it seemed, to save them. Hell, he'd probably be on his knees right now, attempting to resuscitate Chin if it was him spread-eagled on the frosty, metallic floor, instead of Danny.

He understands where Kono's coming from, though. He knows that, if Max is able to bring Danny back to them, the man he's grown so close to in the past two years will be forced to face what happened to him at the hands of his kidnappers.

Sure, Danny'll heal physically. Modern science will see to that. But, mentally and emotionally? That's a whole different question, and Chin isn't sure that, if their positions were reversed, he'd be able to face what Danny will have to if Max can work the miracle that he believes he can.

He isn't that strong. Given the chance, he'd choose death over having to face everything that happened to Danny.

_Chin, you're one of the strongest men I know. Don't lie to yourself. You have Malia and your 'ohana; they'd help you through this. You'd probably handle this better than I will._

Danny's voice comes at Chin like a bullet, piercing him to the marrow. Chin shakes his head, wondering where the thought came from. The mental picture he gets of Danny is one that is atypical of the acerbic man: a sad, terse smile graces Danny's face, and he's sitting cross-legged on the beach off McGarrett's home, wearing board shorts and a long-sleeved tee-shirt to cover the multitude of scars on his arms.

_Just like you'll help me when the time comes. You know, you, and Kono, and McGarrett, are always waxing on about 'ohana, and how we're all family. I'll hold you to it._

Chin envisions Danny rising and patting him on the arm, and then the man just disappears, leaving Chin to blink at the harsh lights of Danny's makeshift crypt. It's unnerving, and in spite of the jacket that he's wearing (they're all wearing jackets), he shivers.

Steve's arms are crossed over his chest. "What do we have to do?" He jerks his chin at Danny's much too still form.

"We'll need to cut him free and then transport him as quickly as possible to Queen's Medical. We can't let him warm up until we have him in the proper environment, or it could cause brain damage," Max explains.

With something concrete to do, Steve is spurred into action, and he quickly kneels to the task of freeing Danny from the ropes. Max instructs while he and Chin do the actual cutting. Steve bites his bottom lip to keep from making a sound, because it's difficult to contain his fury at what's been done to his friend.

Chin's sharp intake of breath causes Steve to look up; he doesn't like what he sees in the older man's eyes.

"Oh Danny," Chin says softly once he manages to free the man's left ankle.

If Danny hadn't been frozen, he'd be bleeding. As it is, Steve wonders if the man will end up losing one of his hands or feet, if not all four of them, but he doesn't voice his concern, lest his speaking it aloud makes it a reality.

"He's lucky he's been frozen," Max says.

His voice is far too cheerful for Steve's liking, but he knows that the doctor isn't going out of his way to be insensitive.

"Why's that?" Kono asks, curious.

She's crouched at Danny's head, and is running her fingers through his hair, as though to soothe the dead man. It's a strange sight to behold.

"Because, if Detective Williams hadn't been frozen, I don't think we'd be able to save his hands and feet. Now that he's been cut free, the circulation, when it returns, will be able to flow to each extremity properly now that the binds have been removed," Max explains with a smile, as he checks on each of the freed limbs. "With surgery, he should be able to have a full range of motion as well."

Steve releases some of his pent-up tension in a loud sigh, and, for the first time since Danny had gone missing, he begins to think that maybe everything is going to be alright. Eventually.

"Can we cover him up now?" Steve asks.

Max blushes, but shakes his head. He wants to cover Danny up too, but they can't do anything until Danny's arrived at the hospital and is in a controlled environment.

"We need to get him on a gurney," Max says, and he snaps his fingers for the paramedics who've been waiting outside, and gestures for them to come in.

It isn't long before Danny's secured to the gurney, and he's being loaded into the back of an ambulance. The paramedics send each other puzzled looks as they fold the body bag up and tuck it away. Under Max's guidance, they don't hook the body they're bringing to the hospital up to anything, but they do break speed limits to get to the hospital in record time.

Steve, Kono and Chin are following in separate vehicles, arriving shortly after the ambulance.

On the way to the hospital, Max quietly issues orders over his cellphone to the only doctor he trusts to be able to do his, Dr. Kellerman. When they arrive, Danny is quickly whisked away and Max has to jog to keep up with the paramedics.

A medical team of six awaits them on the second floor. Max, Dr. Kellerman, and the five men and women he'd chosen to work with them begin the arduous task of bringing Danny back to life by slowly rewarming his body and introducing oxygen to his system.

Danny's other injuries will have to wait until later, though some of them are rather alarming to the assembled doctors and nurses, all of whom had been briefed just minutes before their patient arrived. In the end, it's a waiting game. Danny doesn't return to the land of the living right away.

Steve, Chin and Kono take turns waiting at the hospital after the initial twenty-four hours has come and gone. They all need sleep, and they still have cases to work.

Danny's death is widely publicized, the killers are criticized – a suggestion made by the B.A.U. team sent from D.C. to help out with the case. The hope is that it will anger the killers, and that it will cause them to slip up.

Steve and Chin both deliver the news to Rachel in person, and explain the procedure that Dr. Bergman and Kellerman are performing in an attempt to revive Danny.

"And, you think this will really work?" Rachel asks, her eyes flicker to Steve for confirmation.

"Dr. Bergman seems to think so," Steve says, and he squeezes her hand.

"Steven, what do you think? Do you think he can come back from this?"

"I think he's got a fighting chance, and that if anyone could come back from the dead, it'd be Danny." He believes what he says, knows in his heart that Danny will fight tooth and nail to return to them, no matter what.

"And if he does return to us?" Rachel's hands are trembling, and, though her eyes well with tears, she doesn't cry.

"When he returns to us, we'll help him through the rest," Chin reassures her, knowing what she's thinking.

Information about what the serial killer duo does to their victims prior to killing them had been leaked to the press. Not everything, but enough of it to scare the public and give them goose bumps.

"All of us," Steve adds.

Rachel nods her head. "Thank you for telling me in person. I'll hold off on telling Grace for now."


	4. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing is ever certain in science, and fiction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this chapter is entertaining, and you will have the ability to suspend disbelief. Please forgive any errors.

After twenty-seven hours of waiting for Dr. Bergman's miracle cure to work, Steve's thoroughly convinced that he needs to start planning Danny's funeral, because there's been no change, other than a somewhat steady rise in Danny's core temperature. That isn't enough to make Steve hopeful, and Max's ever-deepening frown isn't exactly selling him on the idea that there is any more hope to hold onto. This is it, they did their best to defeat death, but the Grim Reaper held the upper hand, and now they need to lay Danny to rest.

He knows what Danny wants: from flower arrangements – _none of those gaudy, elaborate displays that'll make me look like I was some kind of fruity mobster_ ; to music– _I'm thinking some Jon Bon Jovi or Frank Sinatra, or maybe something a little more traditional, like Chopin's, "Funeral March"_ ; and everything else in between.

They've both discussed the inevitability of their deaths, and he knows where Danny keeps his will – in the bottom of his file cabinet at work – that he just recently updated it, and that this will probably be one of the hardest things Steve's ever had to do in his life – bury his best friend.

Two hours and several headache inducing phone calls later, Steve's just ending a call to Danny's kid sister, when his phone starts ringing. At first he just stares at it, not comprehending that it's an incoming call. He's made so many outgoing ones that they all seem to blur into each other: one to the funeral parlor indicated in Danny's will; another to one of Steve's Navy buddy's to secure a military aircraft to transport Danny's body back to New Jersey; and still others that Steve just doesn't even want to remember having made, because each one was a reminder that Danny was dead, and it was like adding another nail to the man's coffin.

"McGarrett," he barks into the phone, because it isn't a number that he recognizes, and he's had a shitty couple of days. It's Max, and Steve leans forward in Danny's work chair. He plants his elbows on his partner's desk. If he doesn't, he might not be able to stay upright.

"What is it Max?"

Steve's gut clenches. Though he knows that Danny's dead, he doesn't think he can take hearing it from Max right now, because Danny's little sister hadn't handled the news well. He can't stop hearing the catch in her breath, or the soft sobs before she'd composed herself and ended the call after offering to take on the burden of informing the rest of the family. His relief had been palpable, and he feels guilty about that.

"Detective Williams has a heartbeat," the doctor says, "and he's starting to show signs of brainwave activity. I think it's just a matter of time before he starts to breathe on his own."

Steve blinks, stares at the phone, verifying that the conversation is real and not something his sleep-deprived brain has cooked up, and then he's on his feet and out the door, signaling Kono and Chin to follow him. He knows that he should call Danny's sister, tell her to hold off on informing the others just yet, but he's selfish and wants to see Danny for himself, and to make sure that what Max is telling him is real.

True to fashion, Kono and Chin follow Steve without asking any questions. They know that they'll get answers as they need them, that they can trust Steve.

When they get to the hospital Max is waiting for them, his excitement is contagious, but Steve doesn't allow it to sway him. He's seen Danny dead, felt his cold, lifeless body, and, in effect, buried him today. He won't believe anything until he sees it for himself.

"The breathing tube's been removed," Kono says, and she's touching Danny's hair, like she had when they'd first found him. "He's warm." The smile that spreads across her face is what makes Steve move across the room and position himself beside his partner's bed.

"Here, touch him," Kono says, grabbing his wrist and placing his palm flat on Danny's chest.

Steve isn't sure that he can trust his senses right now. Up isn't up, and down sure as hell isn't down, because Danny's heart is beating. Steve can feel the ba bump, ba bump, beneath his fingertips.

"You're alive Danno," he says, and he doesn't even know why he says it like that, as though he's got to convince his partner of that fact even as he struggles to convince himself of it. Miraculous stories aside, people do not come back to life after they've been dead for almost three days.

"You're alive," he repeats, "and I'm going to make sure that you stay that way, for a very long time."

"Same here brah," Chin says, and he places a hand on Danny's arm, just beneath one of the cuts that Danny had sustained while he was being held, "you're going to grow old and gray and drive Grace, and your grandchildren batty in your old age."

"You're not leaving us anytime soon Danny," Kono says.

"I wonder if he can hear us," Steve says, turning to Max.

"I'm not sure if he can hear any of us or not right now," the doctor admits with a tiny frown, "but other documented cases indicate that once the person has been reanimated, he or she regains all, or most of his or her bodily functions."

"What about brain damage?" Steve asks.

Max takes a deep breath and looks directly at Steve. "We won't know if Danny's brain has suffered any damage until he wakes up and is fully cognizant, which won't happen for at least another couple of days. In many of the cases in which people have been brought back to life after they've been frozen, damage to the brain from oxygen deprivation has ranged from no to minimal to severe brain damage. Of course most of those people have not suffered any severe head trauma prior to being frozen."

"So, you're saying…"

"He might wake up with a traumatic brain injury or some damage to the brain, but it's too early for us to tell."


	5. Not Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking is definitely not all that it's cracked up to be, especially after death. Danny's not sure he should be alive, or even if he is alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, imperfect. Or, is that imperfect, again?

Danny feels a little like he's got a boulder sitting on his chest, and he isn't sure, but he doesn't think that he should be alive. Something niggles at the back of his mind, but it is really difficult for him to think clearly.

He can hear voices, but he doesn't know who they belong to, and that kind of scares him, because he is certain that he should know who each of those voices belongs to. They're familiar, and yet they aren't. The names associated with the voices slip his mind, like sand through a child's fingers.

The voices make it impossible for Danny to return to the darkness, so he concentrates on them, hoping that a name will tag itself to at least one of the voices so that maybe he can understand what is going on. Thoughts and images drift in and out of his mind, and they terrify him. Red and pain, black and death, and cold so complete that it steals his breath.

"Steven?" Danny says; it's the only voice he can put a name to, and his throat's on fire before he remembers why, and he has to steal himself for what is going to happen next.

"Danny?"

It sounds like Steve's real, like he's not a figment of Danny's imagination like Anna and Mick had told him the man was.

"Hey babe."

Danny feels a pressure against his hand, and he flinches, because he knows that Anna or Mick is going to punish him for believing in the existence of Steven.

"Hey, Danny, Danno."

The hand gripping his squeezes him, and it feels safe, but Danny isn't sure. He wishes he was brave enough to open his eyes and see who's holding his hand.

If it's Anna, his broken pinky will be twisted until he begs her to stop. If it's Mick, Danny will wish that he'd never heard of the name, Steve McGarrett, whether the man was just a creation of his subconscious or not.

He isn't brave though, not like the man Danny wishes was real. Steve, Super Seal, in Danny's imagination is a man who can brave his way through anything. He's a veritable super hero, worthy of a red cape and black cowl, but way too manly to wear tights. His sidekicks, Chin and Kono, make up a kickass team.

Danny can't seem to figure out where he fits into the whole fantasy world he's created in his mind, so he settles for being the hapless Jimmy Olsen on this imaginary team, because he doesn't have any superhero qualities.

He's weak and pathetic and he deserves to be punished. Anna and Mick are so good to him, but he has been bad and disobedient. He doesn't deserve them, and that's why he has to die. Why he should already be dead. He wonders why he isn't.

"Danny?" Steve's voice again. "Danny, can you open your eyes for me?"

'No,' Danny thinks, 'I'm not falling for that trick again.' He doesn't want another eyedropper of hot sauce in his left eye.

"Yes, I'm sure that I heard him say my name," Steve says, and Danny wonders who the man's talking to, because it isn't him.

"Not real." Danny manages enough courage to say that, hoping that he'll appease Anna and Mick, and that they won't have to punish him as severely.

"See," Steve says, "he's awake, he just won't open his eyes."

"Maybe he's afraid," a voice Danny can't put a name to says.

"Yeah, maybe." Danny's hand is squeezed, but it doesn't hurt. "C'mon babe, just open your eyes, let Dr. Bergman see for himself that you're awake."

"Not Steve," Danny says, licking his lips, "not brave. Not real."

It hurts to talk; he'd been forced to drink orange juice laced with Drano for breakfast one morning because he'd talked back. He'd coughed up so much blood that he thought he was going to die ahead of schedule.

"Shh, don't talk Danno, just open your eyes, please."

It's the please that does it, because Danny hasn't heard the word please in a real long time, and he's almost forgotten what it means.

He can't keep his eyes open for long, because it hurts, and his eyes are telling him lies anyway. They show him the men and woman that he's been dreaming about. The three – Steve, Chin and Kono – that Anna and Mick had tried so desperately to erase from his subconscious because they didn't belong there.

"Not real," Danny repeats.

He's tired and sore, and his eyes are playing tricks on him. He wonders where Anna and Mick are, because he needs to know that they haven't abandoned him. He needs them.

"What's wrong with him?" Steve asks. The pressure on Danny's hand increases.

"I'm not sure," another voice says. "I think we'd better let the psychologist talk to him."

Danny doesn't understand what's happening, and he doesn't care. It isn't too hard for him to shut down and go back to sleep, and so he does.


	6. Wanting More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's an empty shell, and his team isn't sure how to cope with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some inclusion of the, "Criminal Minds," characters. 
> 
> Apparently, at one point, I thought there might be a sequel to this story. Not sure if there will be. There is another chapter left, though.
> 
> Again, imperfect, and I'm trying not to obsess.

Over the next several days Steve visits Danny at the hospital as often as he can, but it isn't nearly often enough, and he can't seem to draw the other man out.

Danny is an empty shell, and Steve mourns the loss of his friend, but that doesn't keep him from going to the hospital and attempting to engage his friend in at least the semblance of a conversation. But Danny won't let him in, he won't let him help, and it's killing Steve.

It isn't until a week after Danny's back amongst the living that they get a break in the case. The FBI team from D.C. briefs them on what they know about the serial killers and what might possibly be going on in Danny's mind.

"According to the autopsies performed on the victims, and Danny's medical and psychological exams, his captors used a combination of drugs, torture, and brainwashing techniques to break Danny down. It's part of their M.O., and why they choose the victims that they do: strong, independent, virile men. They choose men who are a challenge to break. Once they manage to break them, usually within a week, the thrill of it has worn off, and they kill and then seek a replacement," Agent Rossi from the BAU explains.

"At first, Danny might not remember anything about what happened to him. He may start to regain some memories of what happened in spurts, or in bits and pieces, or even all at once. But, it's important for you to know that he might not ever remember all, or any of it. And, though his mind might never fully recall everything, his body will remember," Dr. Reid carries on from where Rossi left off, and Steve needs to sit down, because this is all a little too much for him to take in right now.

"What do you mean, when you say that his body will remember even if he doesn't?" Kono asks.

"Danny's body will respond to certain stimuli in ways that he's been brainwashed to respond – by repeating a specific phrase, or performing a certain task," Agent Morgan says, "he will have nightmares, but may wake up with no recollection of what was in them, he'll have panic attacks, and will not understand why."

"Is it really possible to brainwash someone in just a week?" Chin questions.

"Some believe it takes little less than an hour, and some attest that it takes at least two months," Agent Prentiss says, "in Danny's case, he was incapacitated by his captors right away, taken from his home, shackled, blindfolded, and told that everything he'd believed to be true wasn't. While this was being told to him, he was being drugged, and physically as well as sexually tortured. He was conditioned to behave and respond in specific ways when exposed to a particular stimulus."

"So, he was conditioned like Pavlov's dogs? Or like what happened with Patty Hearst?" Steve asks, rubbing at the back of his neck.

He's well-versed in techniques used to 'brainwash' someone. Knows that, not only did the couple use pain and cruelty on his partner, but they'd also used kindness as a weapon against him, making him rely on and trust only them, even though they were also hurting him. It's similar to what victims of domestic abuse go through, why they so often do not leave their abuser, because he or she doesn't always hurt them.

Dr. Reid frowns. "Kind of, except in Danny's case, there was a specific deadline that his captors had to stick to. They had to break him down to the point where he believed that his death was going to benefit, not only them, but also him, and all within a week."

"So, how do I help him?" Steve cuts to the chase, because he's tired of Danny shirking away from him and insisting that he isn't real, that none of them are real, and of him quoting Anna and Mick like his whole world is now wrapped up in them. Bottom line is that he wants his partner and friend back.

"First of all, you've got to understand that Danny might never return to the same Danny that you remember. In a way, it's like he's been reprogrammed," Rossi says, and he holds up his hand when Steve opens his mouth to protest, "that doesn't mean that he can't be 'deprogrammed,' but it will take time, and…"

"And, after everything he's been through, there's a big possibility that he won't fully recover," Kono finishes quietly.

Rossi nods. "Yes."

Steve crosses his arms over his chest, and shakes his head.

"No," he says, refusing to accept the idea that, after everything that his partner, hell, all of them have been through, he won't be able to reclaim _his_ Danny. "That's unacceptable. You can't stand there and tell me that, after he died and was brought back to life, Danny won't be able to overcome all that other shit that he's been put through."

"Lieutenant McGarrett," Dr. Reid says, stepping forward, "I think that Danny's very lucky to have a friend like you, and the team that he has by his side. Your support will help him, a lot. I know that from personal experience."

He pauses and takes a deep breath. He pales, and Steve notes a slight tremble to the younger man's hands as he speaks.

"Five years ago, I was captured and tortured by a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder. He drugged me, forced me to watch as he killed people in their homes, and made me choose who would live and who would die. He beat me, broke my foot with a chunk of firewood, and forced me to relive painful childhood memories that I'd thought had been buried too deep to resurface. Then killed me, and resuscitated me only to torture me some more."

Dr. Reid looks up, captures Steve gaze. His eyes have a haunted, pained look to them, as though, in speaking about what happened to him, he's being forced to relive the events. And maybe he is. Maybe this is what Danny has to look forward to, and endless haunting of the events that led to this death.

"The entire time that I was being tortured, the thought of my team, my family, is what kept me going. Since then, they've seen me through all of my ups and downs: my addiction to dilauded, the nightmares and panic attacks. I've still got scars – mental and physical – and I'm not the same Dr. Reid I was before all of that happened to me, but I believe that I am a stronger Dr. Reid. And I believe that, once Detective Williams faces what has happened to him, with the help of his team, he'll come out stronger in the end."

Morgan nods and places a hand on Dr. Reid's back for support. Prentiss, Hotchner and Rossi step forward as well. All creating what amounts to a wall, a united front of support, around Dr. Reid.

"You," Dr. Reid looks from Steve, to Chin and then to Kono, "are Danny's strength, for now, until he can stand on his own two feet again."

Steve nods, and though he still has questions, and has qualms about leaving their ongoing investigation in the hands of the mainlanders, he wants to get back to the hospital, back to Danny. Until he'd lost his friend, Steve hadn't fully realized how much Danny meant to him, and the thought that he might never get him back, really back, terrifies him.

_I'm not going to let that happen to you Danno,_ Steve promises, _I'm not going to let them win._ Because, even though his friend had managed to defeat death, he wasn't really living, and Steve wanted more for Danny.


	7. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No recovery is ever perfect, and no one ever really returns to who it is that they were before once they've been through a traumatic event. We all change with time and experience. All of the roads available to us are rough. Steve is determined to help see Danny through this, to reclaim what it is that they lost before they'd even really had it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An imperfect ending, and apparently I had thought there would be a sequel. Perhaps no one expressed interest in reading a sequel earlier -- I do take my lead from readers with regard to what they are interested in. At any rate, right now there is no sequel, and this ending does leave a lot of loose ends, in part because I do believe that it takes time to heal, and that, even with time, there are some things which never leave us. No ending in life is perfect. 
> 
> Imperfect grammar, and I'm trying to be okay with not being 'perfect'. I lied...I just went through and 'edited' a few things. Never perfect.

Danny's broken. He knows this. Knows that he's been turned upside down and inside out, and he doesn't have a clue what to do about any of it. He feels like he's a shard of shattered glass, or Humpty Dumpty.

He can't stand to be touched – it hurts, even when it's just Grace giving him a quick hug, or Kono stroking the hair back from his eyes. Steve's touch, feather-light, is rare, but it burns like a brand, and it makes Danny's skin crawl. The doctors and nurses – he hasn't bothered to learn their names – are always in and out of his room at all hours, poking and prodding him, and he's grown accustomed to their efficient, yet uncomfortable touches. Chin doesn't touch him, and he wonders why.

Something tells him that he's tainted, that he'll never be clean, or whole, or good again. There are disjointed bits of memory that tickle the edge of his subconscious. There's darkness so absolute that sometimes he thinks he's dead, that Max didn't bring him back to life, that everything he's hearing – Grace's laughter, Steve's quiet sighs, Chin's promises that things will get better – is Hell.

He remembers the thick, cloying odors that bordered on stench – his blood, sweat and piss – and they threaten to choke him through memory alone. Remnants of Anna and Mick are left on his body in bruises that will eventually disappear; scars that will fade from red to a thin, silver ribbon on his skin; and phantom touches that wake him each night, screaming and clawing at air.

There are nights when he can't sleep, and he's left to wonder why Steve, Chin and Kono let Max bring him back from the dead, because he really doesn't know how (or even if he wants to) live anymore. He wants to do it for Grace, for what everyone here calls 'ohana'. But, in the dark watches of the night when the shadows creep and crawl toward him, and he's devolved into little more than a gibbering mess because Anna and Mick are at the forefront of his mind, he just wants it all to end. Not even the thought of Grace (she doesn't belong in the midst of such horrific recollections anyway) can snap him out of it.

Sometimes he knows who's real and who isn't, but there are times when he thinks that nothing is real except for Anna and Mick, and he doesn't believe Steve when the man tells him that he was only with the two of them for a week, because it feels like he was with them for a lot longer than that.

"Hey, Danno." Steve's voice is tight, and it sounds like the man's been crying, but Danny doesn't acknowledge him.

He's comfortable, curled up like a cat; no one can touch him when he's like this. No one, apparently, except for Steve. But then again, his partner has never been one for following rules or protocol.

Steve's hand is warm on his back, and while it doesn't quite burn – _Mick's hand, gnarled fingers pinching and pushing where they shouldn't be, spreading fire through Danny as they tear skin and soul_ – it makes Danny feel like millions of red ants have burrowed their way beneath the surface of his skin and are trying to make their way out. He tries to stay still, pretend like he's sleeping, but he can't help flinching, and then Steve's breath hitches in a way that pulls at Danny's heart and he has to turn around, because he can't keep hurting Steve.

"Sorry," Steve says, even as he crowds Danny further by sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, and getting directly in his space. There are dark smudges beneath Steve's eyes that Danny can see clearly, now that Steve's face is inches from his. "But I can't do this anymore."

Danny's heart stops beating, and his vision tunnels. The air whooshes out of his lungs, and he can't breathe. And then he remembers how he died, how peaceful it was, how simple it was to slip into unconsciousness with just the thought of Steve.

"Danny, Danny." Steve's voice sounds like a distant roar.

Danny feels himself falling into nothing, only to be caught by a strong pair of arms that wrap themselves around him like a mantle, offering protection and something that Danny hasn't had or felt in what seems like years – safety. In spite of his aversion to touch – something he can thank Anna and Mick for – he mirrors Steve's actions, his arms moving almost of their own accord to encircle Steve.

It isn't perfect, this embrace of theirs. Steve's legs are dangling off of Danny's bed, and his torso is twisted in a manner that Danny's certain will cause Steve to suffer from sciatica. His neck is titled at a painful angle so that Danny's head can rest snug beneath his chin.

"I can't do this anymore," Steve repeats, and Danny, ear pressed flush against Steve's chest, can hear the sound of his partner's heart beating frantically as it echoes in his chest. "I can't stand by and watch as you try to struggle through all of this on your own."

Something loosens inside of Danny, and he tightens his hold on Steve, afraid that if he doesn't hold on tight, he'll lose the man – and himself – again, like he did shortly after he was taken. He doesn't remember all the details of what happened to him, and doesn't want to, because what he _is_ able to recall is something that Danny would not even wish on Rick Peterson or some of the other monsters that he's helped to put away.

"Please stop pushing me away, and let me help you, Danno."

Steve's breath is a whisper's touch against Danny's ear, warm and intimate, and bearing with it the memory of something Danny had forgotten. Something he'd feared he had conjured up, but is now certain that he hadn't.

Testing the waters, and his faulty memory, Danny presses his lips to Steve's clavicle. He doesn't miss the sharp intake of Steve's breath, nor the way the man's heart skips a beat and his hands slide down to rest lightly on Danny's hips.

He isn't sure of himself, not by a long shot, and his skin feels all pins and needles. His heart is beating out of his chest, and he can feel Anna's dirty mouth where it shouldn't be, and Mick's fingers ghosting a trail along his spine, but Danny forces the torment of them from his mind and focuses solely on Steve. Steve whose body melds itself into Danny's as he shifts his weight on the narrow bed, easing some of his own discomfort, giving Danny easier access to his flesh.

Danny moves his lips from Steve's clavicle up to the juncture of where his partner's neck and shoulder meet. He sucks and licks and slowly makes his way up to Steve's jaw, leaving bruising marks in his haste, because now that he remembers what he and Steve had started months before he was taken, Danny's making up for lost time, and he's trying to erase the memory of Anna and Mick from his skin, his lips, his mouth.

When he finally reaches Steve's mouth, the man's smiling, lips parting to allow Danny ingress. Steve's mouth tastes like morning breath – something akin to sour milk and rotting cabbage, offset with a hint of minty toothpaste – and Danny can't get enough of it.

"Mhm," he mumbles into Steve's mouth when he stops to breathe.

"Danny," Steve breathes out like a prayer, "god, I've missed you."

"Steve," Danny pulls back a little, his heart clenching in his chest, "I…"

"Sh," Steve presses a finger to Danny's lips and then plies him with a kiss, "let me help you. Let me love you."

Danny can only nod and bury his face against Steve's neck. He's not sure if he can do this, but he wants to try – for Steve, for Grace, for Chin and Kono.

He doesn't know if he'll ever be the same Danny he was before Anna and Mick tortured and killed him and Max brought him back to life, but, he has a suspicion that Steve, and the others, will not let him face any of this on his own. That they'll be there to catch him when he stumbles and falls on his road to recovery. They'll help him get back on his feet, but they won't carry him, not for long anyway.

Content, Danny closes his eyes, listens to Steve's steady heartbeat, and doesn't resist when Steve helps him lie down and then settles  down beside him. He tucks himself into Steve's side, tugs the man closer until they're skintight, and then falls asleep and dreams of the first time they kissed: _It was a sunny day. The remnant of a rainbow colored the clouds that hovered over the ocean. Steve slipped his hand into Danny's, pulled him close. He effectively shut him up, mid-rant, with an impromptu kiss that left them both blinking at each other in confusion, hearts pounding with excitement and heads reeling._

It was later that day when the so-called, 'Hyperactive Killer,' case landed on their desks. And then it was a whirlwind of stolen moments – kissing in the car in the parking lot before and after work, chaste touches whenever they thought no one was looking, a night spent at Steve's doing nothing more than watching each other masturbate and getting off on it, and the night Danny was taken, Steve dropping him off at home and kissing him until he grew dizzy and spots danced before his eyes, leaving him with the promise of something more that never came. Until now.

Waking with a start _– the memory of Anna's fingernails digging into his scalp while Mick fucked him, all the while telling him that he deserved the pain, that he was Mick's to toy with and fuck and kill_ – Danny grips the fabric of Steve's shirt in a loose fist and snuggles closer to the man, burrowing his face into Steve's chest and breathing in the scent of him – cool, crisp, and salty like the ocean. The smell anchors him.

_Home, safe,_ Danny thinks, and he marvels that he's alive, safely ensconced within Steve's arms.

"Sleep," Steve murmurs. "I've got you."

The unspoken, '…and I'm never gonna let you go…' lingers in the air above them as Steve rubs his thumb along the furrow in Danny's brow, and traces circles in his back with his other hand.

"Promise?" Danny asks around a yawn.

"Promise."

Steve's kiss, simple, pressed to Danny's temple, acts as a guarantee that there will be more to come, and that Steve will keep him safe while he sleeps. Danny doesn't fight when sleep takes him under, though he knows nightmares are waiting for him there, he also knows that Steve will be there to see him through them.


End file.
